Sunday, January 19, 2014

Character sketch of Queen Liz the 1st for "The Pirate Meets the Queen", written and illus.d by me, publ.d by Phylomel/Penguin&Putnam books, 2004. Liz did like her lap dogs. Pencil, water color, gouache on Arches 140 cold press paper, 2003.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

I was just asked to FB friend someone from the other side of the globe. Cool. Looks like a nice person. Done. We're FB friends. Then I looked at his friend section. My God, hundreds of people. Wonderful faces, most of them very different from the kind of faces I'm used to looking at. Observations come to mind: This is a really big world. There are lots and lots of people out there I don't even know. And they don't know me. And there are lots of people out there whose lives are so very different than mine, doing things differently than I do, speaking languages I don't understand. They seem pretty darn nice. How is it that that I don't know these people? How do they go about their day, some of them doing really big stuff like getting married and having babies and I'm not kept to date on all of this?

No Bullies! Woman's T-shirt!

This tee lets 'em know where you stand!

Bully for "No Bullies!".

Something I wanted to share with you a couple of weeks ago: Christmas Eve was, is and will be the best day of the year for me. Better even than Christmas or the last day of school or even Halloween. Christmas Eve better than Christmas Morning?! But Matt, you ask, how can that be? Well, I reply, on Christmas Eve it just feels like it's all possible. It's all happening. The big day is before us but right now, the night before, all that really matters is our being together and having fun, yearning, shining. There are no demands, no gift-giving remorse or let-downs or gift opening exhaustion. Everything is still wrapped. It's all possible.All of the fun, the electric Halleluja energy, all the singing, all the hopes and fears through the years come shining forth on Christmas Eve and sit there, smiling, right there on the couch. People being happy just for the sake of being happy- even when they might not feel they should be happy- well, when that kind of magic makes an appearance the sky is the limit. I mean, if that kind of happy is possible, who knows what kind of crazy-happy stuff might show up at the front door on Christmas Eve! No advertising, no marketing, no gift- no matter how big or expensive- can compete with the power and joy of Christmas Eve. Everything is possible on Christmas Eve! I knew this as a kid. And I try to remember it now. Long Live Christmas Eve!your pal,Matt

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

George Takei shares his thoughts on "Gaijin: American Prisoner of War":

“'Gaijin: American Prisoner of War' is a powerful tale of a boy’s fight for his identity as he is swept up in the madness of war. I know that struggle. I was like that boy, an American imprisoned in a barbed wire prison camp in my own country – except that he was half white and I wasn’t. I looked completely like the people who bombed Pearl Harbor.

With forceful graphics and intensely moving storytelling, Matt Faulkner transported me to my own childhood memories. I remember those sentry towers with guns pointed at us; I remember the searchlights that followed me at night; the crowded barracks lined up like soldiers at attention. And I also remember the comfort I found in my mother’s love. Just like him.

This is a story still too little known and even less understood. It is a dark but vitally important story with a critical lesson for our American democracy. Matt Faulkner tells his tale with fierce graphics and moving delicacy."

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Grown-ups choose to ignore the inner and outer magical energies (some nice and some not-so-nice) that are the subtle motors of the Universe. Kids don't seem to know that they have that option until some well meaning adult or nasty ad agency teach them to forget all that "silliness" and get down to the business of buying into "reality".